The output of British music on Breakfast on 3 continues to deteriorate. Take, for example, last week. I have included Sunday to Saturday inclusive. There were 170 pieces of music broadcast, of which just 19 were by British composers. That represents 11%. Of those 19, there were three works by Handel who is, strictly speaking, a German composer who chose to live here.
Is it really good enough when, for example, you put on Radio 3 just after 7am and then find for the next hour and a quarter not a single note of British music is played by the British Broadcasting Corporation. There is an obsession with German and Austrian music which predominates over everything else. Indeed, if I was a Frenchman, I would be complaining about the lack of French music.
Imagine someone in Germany putting on the radio and not hearing a single note of music by a German composer. I am sure that they would be dismayed if most music broadcast was by British composers. And I am sure you could say the same about the French.
Does this matter? I think that it does. There is so much British music that the public does not know, largely because it is neither broadcast, nor does it appear in concert programmes. I am sure that the controller will assure you that most of his listeners appreciate hearing German and Austrian music, as compared to British. However, my reply to that would be that if they only hear German and Austrian music then that is what they are more likely to like. Why should they have a liking for British music if they never hear it? Or, perhaps, they are only hearing a limited selection, namely the usual British. For example Tallis’ Fantasia, the St Paul’s Suite, movements from The Planets, the Bluebird, On Hearing the First Cuckoo, Spitfire Prelude and Fugue and so on. They may well ask ‘Is there anything else?’
I think that it is time that we insisted on major changes in broadcasting output by the BBC.
Chris Cope